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I've been working on a journey type story and I'm having problems with perspective. One scene is giving me particular trouble too. My trainer, Emile, is trying to cross the desert in the Hoenn region. I can't figure out whether to describe things from his point of view or use the omniscient narrator. Could anybody please give me a hand here?

Your descriptions, along with the story as a whole, should be in the same perspective you've been using up to that point. Do not change your perspective in the middle of a chapter. Actually, keep the story consistent with the perspective. If you've told the first five chapters in the first person, keep it in the first person.

So basically, if you're telling the story as an omniscient narrator, describe it as so. If it's been in Emile's persecutive, tell it from his POV.

I don't have solid chapters yet, just individual scenes to decide what order I want to have the happen in. I want to do narrator more the first person but I don't know how to really integrate Emile's thoughts. Everytime I do, it feels clunkly.

It's all comes down to your preference then. I'm not sure why you went with individual scenes rather than plotting out the story first as that should make writing it a lot easier. Anyway, I guess I could point out disadvantages and advantages with the perspectives if you like.

Remember, descriptions are how your characters view something. Take these two sentences for example:

Quote originally posted by Sentence 1:

She had a shit-brown colored hair.

Quote originally posted by Sentence 2:

Her chestnut hair whipped in front of me, a wave of sweet strawberries entered my nostrils.

There's a stark contrast between the two sentences, yet they both describe the same person. In the first person, you can convey your opinions more into your descriptions. How the narrator sees it is also how the readers see it. This could also help with your qualm with integrating Emile's thoughts. Keep in mind that the first person narrative means you're diving into everything the narrator sees, feels, smells, etc. Descriptions make the narrator come alive in a sense. It helps tremendously with making them believable as well. The thoughts also develop the character, but I can't really help you other than trying to make easy transitions from whatever you're writing to thoughts back to action. I'd suggest reading a few books that utilize the first person. Even reading a single page could work wonders.

The omniscient narrative dives into everyone's thoughts and views every single action, meaning very little opinions are implemented while most of it is dedicated to describing a wide range of characters at the same time. Nothing is hidden from the narrative. I would say that descriptions identify with the characters you're identifying with. You can switch from view to view without being jarring to the readers. However, the characters aren't as big in this type of narrative.

I don't think you should be concerned about which one to use for a specific scene. When you're choosing a narrative, you have to consider your entire story. If your story is big on the main character and you want a deeper POV, then go with the first person narrative. But if you want to be able to jump from place to place, time to time, and character to character, then you would probably want to use the omniscient. Because you're writing an original trainer fic, you'd probably want to use the first person as the story revolves more around the character and how he interacts with the world rather than looking at different events that happen across the region. And don't worry if you don't feel comfortable writing in that perspective. If you continue to practice, you should be able to get the 'feel' or writing it and you get used to it. Of course, if you want any help with that, you can always check out the Beta Corner or the stickied thread about helpful links. I'd also suggest reading to get a bit of foundation.

Or you can try writing both perspectives and see which one you like better in the end. It's more time consuming, but it is good practice. Personally, I think a first person perspective for an original character is much more challenging to write than a third person, but it can be more emotional in the end.

It's all comes down to your preference then. I'm not sure why you went with individual scenes rather than plotting out the story first as that should make writing it a lot easier. Anyway, I guess I could point out disadvantages and advantages with the perspectives if you like.

Well I'm one of those people that writes by the seat of his pants. Useful for whipping out a paper in comp, not so much for putting together a story. I can plan who I want and the general direction but everything else I just have to wait for. Like now, I have what looks to be my ending and lots of middle but no beginning.

Quote:

I'd also suggest reading to get a bit of foundation.

That's actually why I'm soo late in replying. I started to look through this fourm's fanfiction archive for a little help and I stumbled upon: The Thinking Man's Guide to Destroying the World.I ended up having to obsessively read it all. It probably wasn't the best to help me with my perspective problems since I tend to naturally want to switch perspectives when writing.

This all has been very helpful, I think I'm going to rough it with first person.

P.S: I didn't think about getting a beta, I really thought you would need to be almost finished before getting someone to look at it.

Well I'm one of those people that writes by the seat of his pants. Useful for whipping out a paper in comp, not so much for putting together a story. I can plan who I want and the general direction but everything else I just have to wait for. Like now, I have what looks to be my ending and lots of middle but no beginning.

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